FAU football put the finishing touches on their best season to date at the FBS level with a 50-3 victory over Akron in the 2017 Boca Raton Bowl before an announced attendance of 25,912 and a national television audience.

Owls Establish New Record in Loss to Wildcats

Kansas State looked to avenge a season opening loss to Stanford, and had a full two weeks to prepare for their matchup against Florida Atlantic.

On Saturday it showed, as the Wildcats handed FAU its worst loss in program history at the hands of a 63-7 drubbing. The final tally eclipsed a 61-10 loss to Louisville set during the 2005 season.

"Obviously disappointed in how the game went, it goes without saying,” said head coach Charlie Partridge. “To give away three turnovers there in the first half put us in a bad hole going into halftime."

On the game’s opening possession, the Owls (1-2) took the ball from their own 8-yard line to the Kansas State 37, but were stopped and forced to punt.

The Wildcats (1-1) immediately put together a 16-play, 89-yard drive, which included three third down conversions, for the game’s first score at the 4:23 mark.

But from there things went downhill offensively for FAU as quarterback Jason Driskel (14-24, 125 yards) found himself on the receiving end of a string of turnovers including two interceptions and two fumbles.

The result was excellent starting positions inside Owl territory three out of four times and scores on each. Kansas State capitolized to build a 49-0 advantage until running back Buddy Howell got not the end zone for the third straight game to put the Owls on the board early in the fourth period.

Kalib Woods caught seven passes totaling 82 yards for the Owls, and Jalen Young led defenders with eight tackles.

"Proud of the effort of our defense in the second half, got a few three-and-outs there in a row, so we’ve got some things to build on", Partridge said. "But we certainly have a lot to fix between now and our next game against Ball State.”

The Cardinals will visit Boca Raton next weekend in what is will be a very important contest to show progress on both sides of the ball.

FAU enters the game allowing almost 500 yards per game while producing 292 yards and 18.8 points in an offense that was expected to be both fast paced and highly productive.